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PES welcomes deal to approve PNR

The Party of European Socialists welcomes the full agreement which has been reached which should allow for the Passenger Name Record (PNR) legislation to be approved at the European Parliament by an overwhelming majority. If approved in next week’s vote, it will crystallise many years of work and provide us with an important tool to fight terrorism while safeguarding the privacy of passengers. In the vote, the PNR will be coupled with the Data Protection Package, something that the PES has always pushed for.

PES President Sergei Stanishev said: “We welcome the fact that the PNR will be finally approved. This will provide law enforcement authorities with a new, useful tool to fight terrorism by tracking terrorists, while preventing the data of ordinary citizens from being misused. That is why we pushed for the Data Protection Package be voted in the same voting session and we are glad that this will happen.”

Sergei Stanishev added: “PNR alone will not solve all of our security problems. However, it is a positive first step towards a much needed coordinated investigative and intelligence framework in the EU. We should use this opportunity to enhance cooperation between European Member States and information sharing under the existing rules”.